According to the Examiner, Metro made the decision to reduce the cost of the SmarTrip card as a gift to riders who are dealing with the higher prices. So do the math: How often do you use a paper fare card? There are 20 workdays between the paper fare card hike and the SmarTrip price reduction. At the very least, next time you lose your SmarTrip card, it'll only cost half as much to replace.

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